Spinner99

I'm possibly over doing it, but I am to change the trans fluid and filter every 25k . Part of my thinking is that when I do a change, the drain and fill method I'm following is only getting about half the fluid in the transmission which means half the fluid in there is still old. Maybe some confirmation bias, but I recall when I did the fluid and filter on my old E46 for the first time it was at about 140k and the fluid came out black. I put in fluid with a red dye and did fluid and filter annually for a while. Given there was a years driving in between each service, but, the second drain & fill came out black, the third was dark red, and it wasn't until the 4th drain and fill I was getting red fluid out.

If it's in the Hutt Valley I can do that

Hello, I saw heard a black 650i coming tonight when I was out for a walk, the plate started HSZxxx - is that anyone on here's ? I'd love to know what exhaust work it's had and where I can get one like it, it sounded like music to my ears

This popped up on my youtube suggestions today

I'm open to earning some pocket money doing little jobs like that on the weekend

Thanks - sorry if I missed it in the thread, do you know what engine is in it? e.g. N43, N45 ? if not can you PM me the rego or VIN and I can find it from there. Will have a look over the weekend and come back to you.

Hi There, Just checking, are you asking for someone to help you do the work, or are you asking someone's to do it for you? How many km's has the car done?

How did you get on @Nigel ?

There's more than one reason why the car might not start. It could be a power supply issue (e.g. Battery is dead, a cable is broken etc), but it can also be a number of other things not related to the battery, for example it could be a "computer says no" issue. When you push the start button the cars computers do a whole lot of magic stuff (like checking if the key in the vehicle is allowed to start the car) - and only if the computers are happy will they command the starter motor to turn. You really need to get a proper scanner on the car to see if there are any indications of why it won't start.

@E63 just in case you're still looking for parts https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/exterior/listing/4728112566

oh $&#$ off really? ffs

All the "raised pedestrian crossings" aka judder bars that are going in on main arterial roads in Lower Hutt. One popped up on Fairway Drive a couple of months ago, I've seen two going in on Oxford Tce and Cambridge Tce this week. I hate having to slow to 15km/h when there isn't anyone near the crossing.

FYI There are a couple of coding options i found to fix it, I made them but I didn't see any difference but it might work for someone else? If it does please let me know. Both in the KOMBI module. Changing from aktiv to nicht_aktiv is supposed to show the true car speed. BC_DIGITAL_V_KORREKTUR BC_V_KORREKTUR

Is the one on this car what you're after? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/other/listing/4640866643

The car lies to you I've noticed if I'm driving along with the instrument cluster saying 50hm/h, ISTA reports the speed as lower (e.g. ~47km/h). My conclusion was the car knows exactly how fast it's going, but it inflates that a little on the instrument cluster for reasons. For me 53km/h on the instrument clustser = 50km/h IRL. I suspect this is something to do with variances in tyre diameters etc and them wanting to avoid the opposite where you're going faster IRL than the instrument cluster says, as that could open them up to having to pay for speeding tickets etc. One of the giveaways for me is the RPM, I'm making up numbers at this point for illustrative purposes, but if the car is sitting on 1950 RPM and tells you it's doing 50km/h, it's likely that 2000rpm is probably a true 50km/h.

Morning, I haven't taken a look under my car to confirm but looking at some photos online you shouldn't need to lower the subframe if you're just doing the lower oil pan ( I'm looking at this post https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/n62-lower-oil-pan-sump-gasket-replacment.1358261/ ) . The upper oil pan yes, I think that would be a lower the subframe type job. If you want to do the alternator gasket with the subframe lowered I'm sure that would create more room/access there's a bolt or two around the power steering pump that were difficult to get to but might be easier if the subframe wasn't there, but you don't need to lower the subframe to do that job if you don't want to. You do need to support the engine though to remove one of the engine mounts as the mount attaches over or on (I can't quite remember) the alternator bracket. I found putting the bracket back on to be a PITA and second set of hands was quite useful for that. If you want a hand let me know. My other advice is the oil cooler loved to leak oil so be prepared to contain that I think the worst part of the alternator bracket job was getting the alternator back in, I don't know what I was doing wrong but I think it took me 2 hours 😮 Replacing the engine mount on the alternator bracket side would be a great job to do while doing the alternator bracket as you've half got it off already. The drivers side would be extra work. Sorry I don't know how to tell if they're past their useful life either

The usual bug and tar remover products will take care of tar on your rims. Are you sure that isn't pitting?

+1 for oil pan. I don't know the size of the pool, but it sounds bigger than the diameter of a tea cup? It might be helpful to understand if the puddle continues to grow over time (suggesting it's leaking from a place with a constant supply of oil when the engine isn't running such as the sump) or the puddle gets to a certain size then stops (suggesting it's leaking from somewhere with a limited supply of oil when not running such as a vanos solenoid). My thought is that if the puddle is appearing when the engine isn't running and it's growing the longer it's sitting there it's probably a low down leak around the sump area. There's also possibilities of leaks from the oil cooler and it's lines though. There may be a little oil in the odd place in the upper parts of the engine but I wouldn't expect any significant quantity to be able to leak out once the engine isn't running. Did you have a feel for roughly where the puddle was relative to the car? e.g. was it in the front right corner ? If you haven't already it could help to take the front under under body cover (the dust cover, not the metal support one) off and leave it off so you can see where the pool is and focus in that area. Oil can travel down hoses etc so the leak may not be exactly above where the pool is, but it gives you a good start on where to start looking.

I now have a Varta H15 in the E61 550 and the car is so much happier for it. (Thank you @Jun ) I'd definitely buy another the same if I needed a new battery. Re your transmission issue it could be the battery. I had something similar that happened only once and while the battery was in a low charge state. I was driving along and was going up a bridge that crosses a railway track and all of a sudden there was a massive bang that nearly resulted in an unplanned #2's event on my part. There was an error that came up on the Idrive that I *think* was about DSC but my memory could be failing me on that. Unfortunately I couldn't quite coast it over the top of the bridge . Once stopped I put it in Park, and I also can't remember if I turned the car off or not but eventually I selected Drive again and off it went and I continued my way home. That was over a year ago now. That same day I purchased a battery charger and I use it when I think it's needed and the same thing has never happened again. FYI I do have the LCI with electronic shift so that might be a variable.

I thought I'd do a quick shout out - backstory is I wanted shift paddles for the E61 and I managed to get my hands on a M-Sport steering wheel from an E60 but it was in rough shape. Before I spent any money on repairing the wheel I got the shift paddles working which was easier said than done (the factory wiring diagrams were wrong and I had to spend a fair bit of time reading up on the right way to go about it.) I'm a massive fan of the shift paddles and I'm really happy with them now they work! I don't drive the car in manual mode but I do like to shift gears now and then - e.g. going up or down a hill the transmission doesn't always drive the car the way I want it to. Anyway I struggled to find someone in the Wellington region that could do a steering wheel. I was initially looking for someone to re cover it as I thought it was too far gone, but I ended up reaching out to Erika @ The Leather Doctor https://www.myleatherdoctor.co.nz who said she could fix it up without re covering. I offered to remove the wheel from the car which made the job a lot easier for her. The Leather Doctor is a mobile service so they came to my house meaning I didn't have to faff around dropping the car off somewhere for the day etc. I'm really happy with the result, it looks a million times better now! Here's a before and after photo. Apologies in advance for the background, I took the photo on the front steps and in hindsight that wasn't a good spot, but you can still see the difference , it's night and day.

This weekend I thought I’d bite the bullet and start sorting out some of the interior scuffing in the 130. I had seen on the M539 video on the B7 (Project Chicago) that Sreten managed to clean up the look of the scratched trim which got me inspired so I gave it a go too. I started with just one small piece that was the also the worst in the car, I've attached a before and after photo below. I used De-Solv-it in place of Liqui Molly Orange Power cleaner, from Bunnings. https://www.bunnings.co.nz/de-solv-it-125ml-multi-purpose-cleaner-spray_p0172055 It’s also an orange based degreaser and seemed to do the job. Lyndar Plastic Primer Filler from Supercheap https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/lyndar-lyndar-plastic-primer-filler---400g/376306.html . Note it’s grey in colour rather than clear. It doesn't matter but I think from watching Sreten's video I just had it in my mind it would be clear. Lyndar 1K Matt Black paint from Supercheap https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/lyndar-lyndar-1k-acrylic-matt-black-400g/637895.html Sometimes I found the coating came off easier rubbing it with my thumbs than using a brush, other times the brush was the only way. Overall I’m pretty happy with the new look. One thing that jumped out at me when I put it in the car is it’s a bit blacker than the other pieces around it, maybe a colour closer to dark grey might have been a better option? M539 video showing the process Sreten went through - 16 mins in is where he starts working on the soft touch plastic.

I thought this video gave a really good explanation of the coolant temperature range for a MAP thermostat relative to engine load and speed. Even if you just watch the first 2-3 mins that should give you a good overview. TL;DR = sometimes the car will open the thermostat at 85 degrees ish, sometimes it'll let the car warm up over 100 degrees. I didn't think it looked *that* bad? I will add I'm making the assumption that you'd be doing what I'd do and use the AGA Coolant Pipe https://agatools.com/products/n62-n62tu-coolant-pipe ? I agree the factory one (that needs the front bumper & radiators etc removed to insert it) doesn't look fun at all . There's also a work around option that's easy to install called the "Bimmerfix" stent https://bimmerfix.com Just adding a quick edit - the "Uro" coolant pipe option I wouldn't consider, it looks like it'd give up at the time least convenient to you..

It cost me $650 to get the job done on my E87 (MSport), $500 seems like a good deal!

Lol thanks @M3AN , better late than never I guess